Salesman&#39;s shoe-display rack



Nov. 15, 1938. c. F. SCHOLL SALESMAN'S SHOE DISPLAY RACK Filed March 15, 1937 aka/ales]? $0201! GMT? New Patented Nov. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFEQE SALES'MANS SHOE-DISQLAY RACK Charles F. Scholl', Chicago, Ill. Application March 13, 1937, Serial No. 130,635

3 Claims. (01'. air-3'7) In selling shoes, the salesman usually displays quite a diversity of styles and shapesand the customers selection is usually made from a cornparative few of them that meet first-blush approval.

The general object of my invention is to provide a neat and attractive display rack for the salesmans use to receive andattractively display such shoes as meet with the customers tentative to favor, thus to facilitate his work and the customers comparison of stylings,v etc.

Another object of the invention is to provide a very simple and effective construction of the supporting rack that, by different positioning. of

15 support bars in its frame, and different positionings of such frame, will accommodate a diversity of display-positioning of shoes of different lengths and other wares such as hose, arch supports, etc. that commonly are sold in conjunction with shoe-sales; and further objects will appear from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which I have shown and will describe, for purposes of full disclosure, a single embodiment of my invention that 2'5 I have found to be highly satisfactory in use and economical in cost.

In the drawing: 1

Figure l is a perspective view,-with parts broken away, showing the rack in use in standing position";

Figs. 2 and 3 are small cross-sectional diagrams showing the rack in such position with its support bars in other selective positions in the frame, to vary the display or accommodate different lengths of shoes; and

Fig. 4 is a somewhat larger cross-sectional diagram showing the use of the rack in laid down position, for rocking manipulation to facilitate the customers inspection and comparison of shoes.

The frame Ill of the rack structure shown is of single piece construction, made preferably of good steel rod-stock, formed to provide a longitudinal reach or backmember l l and two iden- 3 tically-shaped end members [2, l2, each having a rear leg 53 merging into the back reach II and a front leg l4 connected at its top with the top of the back leg and downwardly out-sloped with respect to the rear leg for purposes that will :50 presently appear; these end members standing in parallel planes at right angles to the axis of the reach ll.

While embodiments of my invention may be built in reasonable diversities as to size and ma- 55 terial, and the drawing hereof is diagrammatic rather than to scale, a border frame of say halfinch bar stock and end-member shaping giving approximately a nine-inch spread between the legs at their lower ends and about a nine-inch height for the end members, as shown in Fig. 1, gives good results and appearance. A length to accommodate at least four or five shoes is desirable.

The connection l5 between the front and rear legs of each end member is shown as a smooth curve of increasing radius from its merger with the backleg to the center of its span, for smooth rocking action such as is illustrated in Fig. 4; for which purpose the rack is placed in laid down position with itsback legs l3 and its longitudinal reach I lconstituting the base.

Longitudinal support-bars for the shoes, positionable in selected stations afforded by pairs of shallow, confronting recesses I! in the two end frames; complete the rack; provision of four pairs of recesses' H and threesupport bars 16 giving a desirablediversity of display-angles and accommodation of different lengths of shoes. Inithe desirable specific arrangement shown, recesses ll respectively near the top of rear leg 13 and the t'opof front leg l4 and suitably separated laterally as, 'say, by a distance approximating 5 inches, will position two support bars Hi and 61 in a horizontal plane, when the rack is standing position, to serve as a skeleton platform: on which to place boxes or display incidental wares aforementioned; and two other stations ll at different heights in the front legs are selectively available to receive a third bar [6 to act as one of the support members for shoes on display.

For convenient reference the receptive stations ll will be spoken of as first to fourth, beginning with the pair at the back of the rockers I5, and the bars H5 in use will be referred to as l6 to IE, reading from left to right in all figures, regardless of what numerically-indicated positions they occupy.

It will be noted that all of the bar-receiving recessesare sufficiently far away from the backreach I I to permit freeing of their engaged bars for removal, under relatively-slight, manual springing-apart of the sturdy end members, which are stiff enough to strongly retain the bars against accidental displacement from the shallow recesses.

In stood up position of the rack, medium position as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, while very long shoe-lengths may be accommodated, or angle of presentation of shorter shoes may be varied by locating bar l6 in No. 1 position and bar IS in No. 3 position. Where only two bars are used the third may either be laid aside or inserted in an idle position in available recesses IT.

For purposes of presentation in rather flat or low-angle display, and for rocking display, it will be apparent that heel-receiving bar Hi may be placed in either fourth or third position in the recesses I! and a sole-receiving bar I6 may be accommodatingly placed in a remaining positionnumber of the front leg, as indicated for a longer mans shoe and a shorter woman's shoe in the respective full line and dotted line positions of Fig. 4.

It will be noted that in either positionstood up or laid downthe support-bars may be so disposed that the rack is not subject to upsetting or rocking, as the case may be, under the weight of the full quota of long and heavy shoes. And that, in general, the rack may very conveniently be handled by the clerk in presenting an array of shoes to the customer for close comparison between them by the customer.

While for purposes of full disclosure I have herein described in detail a very advantageous embodiment of my invention, it will be understood variations in details thereof may be made without departure from the spirit of my invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a rack for shoe-salesmans display of a line of shoes for customers selection, a singlepiece frame of metal rod-stock bent to provide a longitudinal back reach and two end members lying in planes at right angles to said reach, each said end member having recesses in its inner face and being shaped to present rear leg and front leg portions merging into a wide curved rocker portion, from which said legs diverge in acuteangle relation to each other; and parallel longitudinal support bars extending between said end members with their ends normally received in the recesses thereof and so positioned with respect to said rocker portion and to the free ends of the front legs as to display shoes at different angles of presentation when, respectively, said frame is in standing position on its four legs and in laid down rockable position on its back legs, with the shoe heels hooked over an appropriate upper one of said bars and their soles supported by a lower said bar, the longitudinal support bars being readily removed or inserted by a flexing of the front leg portions.

2. In a rack for shoe salemans display of a line of shoes for customers selection, a single piece frame adapted to be supported in upright or laid down position, the frame comprising a longitudinalback reach and two end members lying in planes at right angles to said reach, each of said end members being shaped to present front leg and rear leg portions merging into a wide curved rocker portion from which said legs diverge in acute angle relation to each other, and longitudinal bars extending between and supported by said end members for supporting the shoes to be displayed, the front leg portions, when the frame is in laid down position, extending upwardly and rearwardly from the curved rocker portion with the longitudinal shoe supporting bars in elevated position relative to the rear leg portions and the curved rocker portion permitting rocking of the frame.

3. In a rack for shoe salesmans display of a line of shoes for customers selection, a single piece frame of metal rod-stock bent to provide a longitudinal back reach and two end members lying in planes at right angles to said reach, each said end member having recesses in its inner face and being shaped to present rear leg and front leg portions merging into a wide curved rocker portion permitting rocking of the rack when in laid down position, from which said legs diverge in acute angle relation to each other, and parallel longitudinal support bars extending between said end members with their ends normally received in the recesses thereof and so positioned with respect to said rocker portion and to the free ends of the front legs as to display shoes at different angles of presentation when, respectively, said frame is in standing position on its four legs and in laid down rockable position on its back legs, with'the shoe heels hooked over an appropriate upper one of said bars and their soles supported in elevated position above said back legs by a lower said bar in the corresponding elevated front legs.

CHARLES F. SCHOLL. 

